


Pleistocene Picnic

by dalekanim



Series: Mother's Day [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 06:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14665245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalekanim/pseuds/dalekanim
Summary: This year, Allison and the Doctor go hunting for meteorites, and get to help some wildlife along the way.





	Pleistocene Picnic

    Mother’s Day couldn’t come fast enough; Allison was counting down the days. She went to sleep restless the night before.

    And the next day, she woke up to the whine of the TARDIS’ engines.

    She scrambled out of bed, her heart in her throat, fumbling with clothes and shoes when she heard a soft knock on the bedroom doorframe.

    Allison’s grin widened; she hastily finished pulling her shirt over her head, then whipped the door open.

    “Hello!”

    The Doctor jumped back, and Allison giggled.

    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just…” She grinned and flapped her hands excitedly. “ _Oh_ , I can’t believe we’re going to get to do this _again_ \--! You know, I still tell people all about the one last year?” She hurriedly stepped out and closed the door. “I mean, Eli suggested I say he wrote it as a story, instead, because, you know,” she said. “You’re _you_ , not many people know you exist, I imagine--but there’s no way I could’ve kept this a secret--”

    The Doctor grinned. “I’m glad I made such an impression,” he noted. “I’m glad you’re so, ah, excited.”

    “Of course I’m excited!” Allison exclaimed, tying her hair back as she bounced across the living room to the kitchen, then started to root through the pantry. “That was one of the best mother’s day presents I’ve ever gotten! Do you have somewhere in mind this time, or do I get to pick?”

    “I’ve got somewhere in mind, but don’t worry. I’m quite confident you’ll like it,” he replied with a wide smile. “I would, however, suggest grabbing some shoes before we leave. And a good jacket.”

    Allison glanced down at her bare feet and laughed. “Uh, yeah, that would _probably_ be a good idea.” She tucked a couple of granola bars into her pocket. “And I’m actually wearing _proper_ shoes this time, not sandals,” she remarked.

    “Mmm…” The Doctor hummed. “I didn’t _actually_ mean for that outing to turn into quite the adventure it turned out to be.”

    Allison laughed again. “It’s a good thing we were there, though,” she said, and he chuckled.

    “I suppose you’re right.”

    Once Allison had collected her shoes and they had hurried into the TARDIS, the Doctor began the usual dash around the console, throwing levers and hitting switches while Allison looked on gleefully; the TARDIS wheezed and rattled a little, then the Doctor pulled the throttle back down and the TARDIS settled with a bump.

    “All right, then,” he said, eyes twinkling, and Allison bounced after him toward the door. “Welcome to the Pleistocene era.”

    The first step out the door was cold; Allison could see ice and snow in the distance, but the plains on which the TARDIS was parked was covered in tall grasses. The sky was dark, and the horizon was slightly lit in the telltale first stages of a sunrise.

    She exhaled, her breath visible as small clouds in the crisp air. “Wow.”

    “Africa, near what would be present-times Namibia, to be exact,” the Doctor announced, pulling the TARDIS doors shut and locking them with a wave of his fingers. “We’re going to be…” He trailed off, gazing at the sky. “I forget how beautiful it is here, sometimes,” he said quietly. “I should take you stargazing some time.”

    Allison turned to him, grinning. “Can you tell me any of the stars here?”

    He gave a lopsided smile. “It’s not the skies I’m used to, but…” He squinted at the sky. “There’s a lot of star mythos in African culture, actually. One people, the Karanga, believed the stars were the eyes of the dead, while others believed they were souls yet to be born. Tswana, I think. Ah, there!” He pointed. “That’s a star cluster known as the Pleiades, known to much of southern Africa as the _isiLimela_ , the digging stars, a marker of the harvest season. And…” He pointed again. “There was a legend that a young girl, upset at her mother, grabbed roots and ash from the fire and threw them into the sky to form the Milky Way.” He paused. “I think that was the Saan people.” He smiled. “I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to show you, since the sun’s coming up, but-- _ah!_ ” he exclaimed, tapping his screwdriver. “We’re actually running late, in fact. Good thing you brought better shoes, we’ve got a bit of a hike.”

    “We do?”

    “Mmhmm. Best viewing spot is…” He consulted his screwdriver again, pointing it around. “Up there.” He tilted his head to the side. “Doesn’t look like too bad of a climb.”

    Allison turned to look, and saw a ledge looming over the plains. “All the way up _there_? Viewing spot for what?”

    “Ah-ah, not telling yet,” he said cheerfully, pocketing the screwdriver and starting to walk. “Come on, I’ll tell you some more tales on the way.”

 

    The hike to the top of the ledge wasn’t as bad as Allison initially thought; the inclined trail zigzagged up most of its length, making it more of an uphill walk than an actual climb. As they walked, the Doctor regaled her with stories from the San people’s myths--about Cagn, the trickster deity who created the world, and later created the Moon; Heitsi-eibib, patron of hunters, who cursed the lions to walk on the ground instead of trees; and the eternal battle between Tsui’goab, the sky deity of lightning and thunder, and Gaunab, the deity of sickness and death; and as he talked, he added in facts about the famed rock arts all over southern Africa.

    “Interpreting the rock arts is a bit finicky, though,” the Doctor continued, “because a lot of it was written in symbolic terms--so, in some cases, the eland, the antelope that Cagn and his wife Coti made, was symbolic of marriage instead of the _eland_ itself. They’re beautifully complex, like… a very distinct poetry.” He let out a sigh of relief. “ _Finally_. Here we are.”

    Allison came over the ridge, panting. “Good,” she said, and flopped down on one of the rocks scattered around the ledge and putting her sunglasses on--the sun was rising.. “Now what is it we’re watching?”

    The Doctor grinned, stuck a hand in his pocket, and pulled out a large, fluffy blanket. Allison gaped at him.

    “Where the heck were you hiding _that_?”

    “Pockets! Bigger on the inside,” he stated, shaking out the blanket and spreading it on the ground with a flourish. “The reason we’re here is because of… well, you’ll see soon.” He sat down on the blanket and gestured to her to sit down; after a few minutes of staring at the sky, he sat up suddenly and poked her arm. “It’s starting!”

    “What? What’s starting?” Allison said excitedly, and followed his gaze. “What is _that_?”

    “ _That_ is a meteor.”

    Allison’s jaw dropped.

“My only worry is that this is a several-ton meteorite,” he replied, “but I don’t know how much we’ll be able to get from it on the ground. Just in case, I’ve put up a field in front of us so we don’t get any blows from the air blast, and the TARDIS will protect the trail we walked up, just in case any pieces come toward us.”

    Allison adopted an incredibly wide grin and sat down on the blanket. “So we get to watch a _meteor?_ ”

    He chuckled. “Not just any meteor. This has one of the largest strewn fields ever found--see, meteors explode during their journey through the atmosphere, and the chunks get strewn all over the ground, called a ‘strewn field.’ This one is called Gibeon--it’s about 26 tons of iron, hence why we’re so far back, with multiple fields up to protect us.”

    “ _Wow_!” Allison exclaimed. “Oh, I wish we could get a little closer, I can barely see it.”

    The Doctor laughed. “Here,” he said, rummaging in his pockets again. “Maybe… well, this is close enough,” he muttered, pulling out a tiny brass spyglass. “I was hoping for binoculars, but I can hardly run back to the TARDIS right now.” He tapped the spyglass with his screwdriver. “There. Bolides aren’t typically so bright that they require filtering, but just in case. I’d rather not be responsible for eye damage.” He offered the spyglass to Allison.

    She took it excitedly and peered through it. “Wow, the tail is so long!”

    The Doctor chuckled. “It’s falling at incredible speeds; the entire thing is probably on fire. It’ll probably flicker a bit. Or it might not,” he said pensively; “meteors this big rarely hit Earth, so I’m going to guess it might behave a bit differently from a smaller meteor.”

    Allison was still following the meteor. “Can you hear something?”

    “A rumble? That might be the meteor. Watch it while you can; that thing is probably going at 50 kilometers a _second_ , which means it’ll make impact pretty soon after catching fire. That trail will still be there a while, though.”

    Allison kept looking excitedly through the spyglass. “I can’t _believe_ this! That’s an actual meteor! From space!”

    He grinned, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees. “Do you want a piece?”

    “How _long_ is that trail? Wait--where did it go? Did it hit?” Allison lowered the spyglass. “Do I want what?”

    “A piece. Of the meteor.”

    Allison goggled at him. “Wait, are you serious?”

    He shrugged. “I mean, I need to get some pieces of it for a friend of mine, anyway; he uses meteorite iron to make tool blades, and he asked me to pick up some more.” He leaned back on his elbows. “Gorgeous, really. He folds the iron with steel to make these rippled sheets; they look more like statement pieces than tools. Would make a beautiful necklace, actually.”

    “So you’re taking me on your errands now?” Allison laughed, but didn’t seem deterred in the slightest. “Aw, _cool_! Uh--we don’t have to walk to it, do we?” She paused. “What’s that noise?”

    The Doctor paused. “That rumbling noise? That’s probably the meteor. Sound travels much slower, so anything we hear from the meteor will be even up to four minutes after the air blast--ah, the point at which it explodes.”

    “ _Wow_!”

    “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” the Doctor said, sounding amused, as she put the spyglass to her eye again and started examining the cloudy trail.

    “Just let me… oh, I’m trying to memorize what this looks like,” she said excitedly. “What are you looking for now?”

    “Camera,” he replied. “Don’t you have your phone?”

    “I left it at home, I didn’t want to lose it!” She put the spyglass down and turned around. “Don’t _you_ have a phone?”

    “I live in a police box, it has a phone on it. Why would I need another one? Ah. This’ll work.” He pulled out an old Polaroid-style camera and stood up. “It’ll only have the smoke trail in the background, but even then, those clouds are distinctive, aren’t they. Turn toward me and give a smile?” he said, walking backwards.

    Allison grinned and fluffed her hair a little. “Cheese!”

    A click, and the camera spat out a picture; the Doctor took it by one corner and began shaking it. “So, thus ends part one of our adventure,” he said with a grin, and he pulled out a few sandwiches. “Eat up, and then we’ll go meteor-hunting.” He wiggled his eyebrows, making her laugh.

    A couple of sandwiches and a granola bar later, the Doctor busied himself with rolling the blanket back up and coaxing it back into his pocket, along with the spyglass and the camera. “Do you want to hang on to that?” he asked, handing her the picture.

    “Oh, I don’t look very good here,” she mused, but took the photo nonetheless. “All set?”

    The Doctor nodded. “Back to the TARDIS, then; I’ll jump us to a good site, and we can go fill our pockets.”

 

    The walk down seemed to go faster; Allison clutched the photo to her chest the entire time, determined not to lose it.

    “How much do you think is left of the meteor?”

    “Oh, _tons_ of it,” the Doctor replied. “Meteors get blown apart and flung everywhere, but there’s enough that even the local tribes, millions of years from now, will still use the pieces.”

    “ _Wow_.”

    “They’re quite neat, meteors.” The Doctor pushed open the TARDIS doors and beckoned her inside. “I once followed one in the TARDIS. Nearly blew my eardrums out when it exploded, too; on the ground, all we hear is a rumble, but those things are _deafening_ up close.”

    “Aw, _cool_! What was it like, seeing it up close?”

    “Um, unnerving, to be honest,” he replied. “Giant flaming ball of metal? Not very fun to try to pilot around, especially when said pilot keeps trying to run to the door to take a look.”

    “Ooh, yeah, I’ll bet,” she said, nodding. “Did you get any pictures?”

    “No, I was trying to nurse my poor ears, frankly.” He walked idly around the console, tapping a few buttons. “Hey, remember how to use that lever?” He pointed to the bicycle-bell-shaped lever she had helped with last time.

    “Uh…” Allison looked sheepish. “You’ll probably need to give me a refresher.”

    He smiled. “Pull the knob, and you can move the lever. We want to move along a single plane, which is in two dimensions. The TARDIS will automatically compensate for any ups or downs in the terrain. So…” He flipped a few switches. “When I say, pull the knob and move the lever to the one-o’clock position--that’s the first mark from the top--then let the knob go.”

    “Pull the knob, move the lever to the first mark, then let the knob go,” she repeated. “Got it.”

    “All right then. Ready…” The Doctor pulled at the handbrake. “Now!”

    Allison pulled the knob, shifted the lever, and let it go--and the TARDIS wheezed to life. “I did it!”

    He grinned. “You did. And now…” The TARDIS made the customary thudding at the end of the trip, and the Doctor put the handbrake back on. “Perfect.” He hurried to the door. “Actually, wait a minute.” He ran back to the console and began tapping buttons, then threw the handbrake again and pulled it down almost as soon as he’d pulled it up. “Skipped us ahead in time a little bit, just to make sure the pieces are cooled down,” he explained. “It’s usually not a problem, but seeing as we skipped right here in the TARDIS instead of walking, and this is an enormous meteor…” He shrugged. “All right, let’s go!”

 

    As soon as they stepped outside, Allison winced and quickly pulled her sunglasses back down over her eyes; the plain was rocky, with scattered tufts of tall grasses. “There’s a lot of rocks,” she commented. “How do I tell what’s a meteor and what isn’t?”

    He held up his screwdriver and began fiddling with it; after a moment, he handed it to her. “Hit the button; when you’re facing something with a larger percentage of iron, the noise will be louder. It’s like a game of ‘Hotter or Colder.’”

    She took the screwdriver and tapped it on her hand. “Sounds easy enough. What about you?”

    He held up a tiny handheld screen with an antenna sticking out of it. “Mineral finder,” he said. “Except this one you have to search based on what _isn’t_ there, because it doesn’t count iron as a mineral,” he explained, “so it’s a bit harder to use.”

    “Oh, I see, you get the smarter one,” she joked, and he snorted.

    “Do you want this one?”

    “Mm, no,” she chuckled. “Ooh, ooh, let’s go already,” she said, and hurried out the door.

    He followed her, shaking his head and smiling. “Stay away from the taller rock formations,” he called. “I don’t want to have to peel you off a stray boulder or anything.”

    He sighed as she waved acknowledgement, and pulled the TARDIS door shut behind him and looked down at the screen. “All right, then. Where are you hiding?”

 

    “This feels kind of like trips to Arkansas,” Allison said after a while, bent over and tapping the screwdriver rapidly. “We’d go crystal-hunting.”

    “Isn’t that where you got that giant crystal rock in your yard?” the Doctor replied. “Eli told me about that a while ago.”

    “Oh, well, you just know _everything_ , I see,” Allison joked.

    “Oh, I don’t even remember what the context was,” the Doctor said airily. “I think we were just in the yard, chatting.”

    “How did you and Eli meet, anyway? You never told me, and neither did Eli.”

    The Doctor let out a sudden bark of laughter. “Oh, you’ll never guess it,” he said, sounding almost gleeful. “Of course he wouldn’t have told you, he’s vaguely embarrassed about it.”

    Allison laughed. “ _Is_ he? Okay, now you _have_ to tell me. Ooh, here’s one!” She darted forward and scooped up a lumpy piece of rock. “What do you think?”

    The Doctor picked it up and tossed it from one hand to another. “I think it’s a nice piece,” he concluded, and handed it back to her; she quickly tucked it in her pocket, then continued beeping the sonic screwdriver. “So. Eli and I. How we met.” He tapped the screen of his own finder a few times. “Funny thing, it’s actually something that hasn’t happened yet,” he commented. “I read some of his stories online, and I didn’t like how one of them ended, so I, ah…” He paused, eyes crinkling in a smile. “I might’ve popped in and asked him to change it.”

    Allison threw her head back and laughed. “Are you serious? You didn’t like one of his stories?”

    “Oh, no, I liked the story very much!” the Doctor insisted. “So much so that I asked him to, ahem, change one. You know, as the main character in some of his stories, I think I’m granted _that_ much.”

    Allison kept giggling. “Which story was it?”

    “Well, he hasn’t, er… _written_ it yet,” the Doctor admitted. “I have to say, I was a teensy bit early.”

    “By how much?”

    “Oh, a… a year or two, but it’s nothing much,” he blustered, and Allison laughed even harder. “Oh, yes, laugh it off,” he muttered good-naturedly. “Anyway, I found him fun to talk with, though, so I gave him my number and email. We talk every now and then. In fact--” He spun around to look at her, that wild grin back on his face. “In fact, that’s how you and I met--he actually bargained with me, saying he’d change the story, whenever he wrote it, if I took you on an adventure.” He shrugged and spun around again, and kept walking. “So I guess he’s trading stories for favors now, which is actually a _spectacular_ bartering system. Stories are incredibly valuable out in the universe, you know.”

    “Aw, that’s kind of cool,” Allison remarked. “I wish I could trade stories back at home.”

    “What’s stopping you?” he asked. “I mean, capitalism--” he made a face. “ _Capitalism_ aside, I’ve traded stories in exchange for services on Earth. Sometimes it’s all I’ve got.”

    Allison shrugged, then paused as the sonic screwdriver let out an unusually loud trill. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, sounding slightly distracted. “Ooh, this one sounds like a _big_ piece,” she said excitedly. “I’m going to go over here!” she announced, and bounced away.

    The Doctor chuckled and shook his head, smiling slightly. “Don’t wander too far,” he called. “Though you’ll be the first to actually take that advice,” he muttered, and continued searching.

 

    After an hour, Allison had found a small handful of pieces (and even shoved one in the back of her shoe, though it wasn’t very comfortable), when she heard a shout.

    “Hey! Hey, did you find a good one?” she shouted back, standing up, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. “Doctor?”

    “AAAAAAAA--”

    It happened almost like a cartoon; Allison actually heard the Doctor’s yell fade in and out as he came sprinting past, then skidded to a stop, turned around, grabbed her by the wrist, and yanked her along with him.

    “Wha-wha- _what_ are we doing?!” Allison demanded, struggling to keep up. “What’s going on?”

    The Doctor flailed his arms backwards. “RUNNING!”

    Allison glanced behind her--and saw-- “ _Is that a sabertooth tiger?!_ ”

    “No! Sabertooth-tigers-don’t-exist-they’re-closer-to-marsupials!” the Doctor panted out in one breath. “ _Running_ , please! Biology lesson later!”

    Allison nodded, and kept sprinting; unlike in the darkened recesses of a courtroom building, there weren’t any hallways to turn down, or any doors to run past and lock against their pursuers; after a short while, her legs started to burn, and she was gulping huge lungfuls of air.

    “There!” the Doctor shouted suddenly, pointing, and Allison saw the distinct blue of the TARDIS against the plain; they both corrected their course and continued the mad dash.

    The Doctor got there first; he slammed into the doors, cursed under his breath, and started fumbling with the key. Allison slammed into him, then let out a shout and started batting his back with both hands.

    “Hurry hurry hurry--”

    He turned the key, shoved the door open, and they both toppled in and sprawled in the entranceway as the door slammed shut again.

    “Well,” he panted after a minute or two. “Many types of sabertoothed cats--not tigers--are actually closer to marsupials, as I said. As far as the classification. There’s even multiple groups that are described as ‘false sabertooths,’ which weren’t even technically _cats_ at all. The whole ‘cat/tiger’ thing is common misconception.”

    Allison let out a worn chuckle. “We just escaped from one and you’re talking about _that_.”

    “Do you mind?” he asked, still lying on the floor.

    “Ha! No, I don’t. Not really,” she said.

    “They’re usually faster, though,” he added pensively, then sat up. “I wonder which kind that one was. I didn’t get a close enough look--or, rather, I did, but I was paying attention to the gigantic teeth in front of me, not really any other details.”

    Allison heaved herself up with a grunt. “Well, can you take a peek out the door?”

    The Doctor tried to squint out one of the tiny windows set into the door. “Maybe. Where’s the screwdriver?”

    “Oh, it’s…” Allison started, patting her pockets, then trailed off. “Um, it was in my pocket. Oh, no…” She fumbled in her pockets again. “No, all my meteor pieces fell out!” She looked up at him, distraught. “I’m sorry, I must have dropped it…!”

    The Doctor shrugged. “Don’t stress about it too much, I doubt we’ll have much trouble getting it back. Unless one of the cats eats it, but I doubt that’ll happen,” he said, and pulled the door open a tiny bit and peeked out.

    “Well?” Allison asked after a moment, and the Doctor flung the door open suddenly.

    “I guess it can tell where the TARDIS field starts,” he said, pointing; sure enough, a large, yellowish cat with enormous, curved fangs was crouched about twenty feet from the door, its yellow eyes fixed determinedly. Right in front of its paws was the Doctor’s screwdriver.

    “Careful!” Allison whispered urgently as the Doctor slowly took a step outside the door.

    “It won’t go past the field,” he assured her, though his face looked more apprehensive than his tone. “If I can just grab it…” He continued to inch forward, eyes not leaving the cat’s face.

    The cat growled suddenly, and Allison yelped, one hand clenching the door frame of the TARDIS. “Get back here!”

    “Not until I have the screwdriver,” the Doctor said urgently. “I’m almost there… and…” He slowly crouched down, less than four feet from the cat, and reached out his hand…

    “ _Got it!_ ” he exclaimed, then let out a shout of surprise as the cat took a swipe at his hand; he fell backwards and hurriedly crab-walked back toward the TARDIS. “I got it! I got it!”

    Allison let out a whoop and stepped out cautiously to help the Doctor up, then began towing him back to the TARDIS. “Come on, come on, I don’t trust it to stay there!”

    The Doctor laughed, but let her pull him along. “It won’t come any closer, you know.”

    “I know, but…” She sighed and stood in the TARDIS doorway. “I guess that’s the end of our meteor-hunting.”

    “Unfortunately,” the Doctor murmured, eyeing the cat. “But I’m still wondering, why didn’t it catch up to us?”

    Allison watched the cat as it stood up and began to pace. “Wait--look.”

    The Doctor watched it. “It’s… _hurt_.” He tilted his head to one side. “I guess that explains it.”

    Allison hesitated. “Can we… can we help it somehow?”

    The Doctor blinked, surprised. “Um. I suppose we could try, although that depends on what’s wrong.” He watched the cat, which continued to pace back and forth, limping slightly.

    “Maybe there’s something stuck in its paw,” Allison suggested. “Is there a way you could… sort of… _communicate_ with it? Tell it we’re trying to help?”

    The Doctor held up his screwdriver and began fiddling with it. “ _Actually_ … you might have an idea there,” he said slowly. “‘ _Help_ ’ is a bit of a nebulous concept, but I can try to tell it we’re not hostile, at least,” he said. “The TARDIS’ telepathic field should be able to help, if I can just amplify it a bit…”

    Allison alternated between watching the cat and watching the Doctor, fascinated by both. “You know, despite that it tried to, y’know, chase us and everything… I get to see a _sabertooth cat!_ Up close! In person! Right after a _meteor_!”

    The Doctor chuckled. “Time machines. They’re quite something, aren’t they,” he said, looking back at the TARDIS fondly. “All right. Here goes.” He brought the screwdriver up and pointed it at the cat; the cat stopped pacing and stared back at him, teeth bared.

    “Carefully,” Allison said nervously.

    The Doctor didn’t break eye contact with the cat. He began murmuring softly: “Easy there. It’s all right. _Friend_ . Friend.” He pointed to himself and Allison. “ _Friend_.” He inched closer; the cat looked confused. “Friend. I want to help you.”

    Allison followed closely behind him, one hand holding the back of the Doctor’s jacket as if she hoped to yank him away should the cat pounce. “Is it working?”

    “No idea,” the Doctor murmured, then crouched down and held out a hand, as if he were approaching a very large and strangely-shaped dog.

    The cat bared its teeth and growled again, and Allison pulled the Doctor backwards. “Careful!”

    He grunted as he landed on the ground, then adjusted the screwdriver and pointed it at Allison, and then at the cat. “I think my own telepathic signal is too strong. I don’t think it likes me.” He sighed. “Yours might be more what it’s used to. You try.”

    “ _What_?”

    The Doctor nodded. “Go on. If you stay behind where its paws are, it won’t come closer. And try to think calming thoughts.”

    Allison glanced between the cat and the Doctor, then let out a distressed noise. “Oh, I’m going to regret this,” she muttered, and began to inch toward it, trying to think about… what was relaxing? Sunny days, picnics, playing tag with the cats, a nice cup of coffee first thing in the morning, beaches with the sound of surf in the background…

    And suddenly, she was face to face with the cat, its six-inch-long fangs a foot from her face.

    “Oh no,” she breathed. “What do I do?!”

    “Don’t stop thinking about calming things!” the Doctor said urgently, beeping the sonic screwdriver quickly. “I’m trying to strengthen your signal… and don’t panic, I think it’s working. It’s paying attention to you.”

    Allison breathed carefully, trying to control her heartbeat. “Does it know I’m trying to help?”

    “Well, it knows you’re not trying to hurt it,” he stated. “I’m having trouble helping you translate anything else.”

    Allison nodded slowly, eyes not leaving the big cat’s. “Hi there,” she said quietly. “I’m trying to help you. You know? Help.” She raised her hands, and the cat took a pained step backwards, eyeing her warily. “ _Oh, no._ Easy there. Easy,” she said, and made a kissy-kissy noise like she’d make to a house cat. “Come here. Easy there.”

    The Doctor kept back, holding the screwdriver like a wand. “It’s working, it’s _working_ ,” he whispered. “Keep going.”

    Allison grinned despite herself, and slowly turned her palms upward. “See? I’m not going to hurt you.” Then, an idea: instead of calming thoughts, she started to think _pain, paw, me, no pain_ , and kept thinking the sequence in a cycle. _Pain, paw, me, no pain. Pain, paw, me, no pain._

    The cat made an odd noise that sounded halfway between a gurgle and a confused, deep trilling noise, lifting its hurt paw and tilting its head at her.

    _Pain, paw, me, no pain_. “Is it working?” she asked.

    “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” the Doctor said in a low voice. “I think I see what’s wrong.” He took a step forward, but the cat made a snarling noise, hackles going up, and he immediately stepped back. “Ah. Yes. It definitely prefers you over me.”

    “Shh, shh,” Allison whispered, wiggling her fingers to distract it. “Shh, let me see.” Steeling herself, she kept thinking the cycle of concepts, took a breath, and reached her hand out and picked up the cat’s paw. “Oh, wow,” she breathed. “This is incredible. I’m touching a sabertooth cat.”

    “Work quickly, please,” the Doctor murmured, and she focused on its paw, gently lifting it up.

    “There’s a thorn,” she mumbled, and before she could lose courage, she pinched it and yanked it right out.

    The cat let out a howl and took a rather ill-aimed swipe at her, but she had already scrambled backwards to stand next to the Doctor; it paused and looked at its paw with interest, then flicked its ears, losing any semblance of hostility, and sat down and contentedly began to wash its paw.

    Allison let out a triumphant laugh and jumped up to hug the Doctor. “ _Yes_!”

    The Doctor grinned. “ _Very_ well done. I’m impressed.”

    “ _Yes_ ! That was _amazing_!” she cheered, then giggled as the cat looked up at her, as if it was annoyed. “Sorry.”

    The Doctor let out a relieved sigh. “I think that’s enough excitement for one day,” he grumbled, though he was smiling as he opened the TARDIS doors. “What do you think?”

    “Yeah.” Allison stood smiling at the cat for a moment longer. “Aww. Well, I’m glad I got to help you,” she told it. “Good luck!”

    Once back upon the TARDIS, the Doctor darted around the console; again, Allison got to help with the little bell-lever, and they were off into the time vortex again.

    “So. Scale of one to ten, what did you think?” the Doctor asked, grinning deviously at her.

    “Ten, it was so neat! Sabertooth cats, a picnic under a meteor, meteor-hunting…” She trailed off. “Oh, no. I didn’t get any more meteor pieces.”

    The Doctor pulled the handbrake and the TARDIS thudded to a halt. “I may have a way to help with that, actually.” He wandered over to the door, looking distracted. “Here. We should be at about an hour before we left.”

    “All right…” Allison followed as they exited the TARDIS, looking a little disappointed. “It was still fun.”

    The Doctor paused. “Stay here. I’ll be right back,” he announced, then hurried back into the TARDIS; a minute later, Allison heard the telltale whine of the TARDIS departing, and turned to see an empty corner of the living room where the TARDIS once stood.

    She sighed. “Ah well.”

    She was working in the kitchen when she heard the TARDIS’ engines once more; she wiped her hands off quickly and hurried back into the living room as the Doctor stepped out of the door.

    “So. I can’t stay long, but I convinced that friend of mine to give me a piece he isn’t using,” he stated, and gestured for her to come closer. “I know it’s small, but it looks beautiful. Take a look.”

    Allison hurried over and looked at the tiny square in his palm. Dark gray and steel formed rippled stripes all over it, almost zebra-like; the effect was both graceful and almost alien. “Oh, _wow_.” She went to pick it up, but the Doctor pulled it back.

    “Nope, not yet,” he said. “I’m not done with it. _But_ ,” he stated, “ don’t worry, I’ll have it packaged up nice and pretty for you by the time Eli gets here.” He grinned widely, pocketing the tiny stone. “I’ll leave it on your dresser.”

    “Aw,” Allison said. “All right, I guess.”

    “Don’t worry,” he said confidently; “it’ll be worth the wait.” He swooped down and gave her a quick peck on each cheek. “She’s getting antsy, so I have to go. But I’ll see you next time!”

    Allison nodded. “All right. Stay safe! Don’t do anything stupid!” she called after him as he hurried back to the TARDIS.

    “When do I ever?” he called back, cackling. “Oh, and say hello to Eli for me!”

    “All right!”

    The TARDIS groaned to life, and Allison watched it fade. “Wow.”

    Billy yawned, rubbing his eyes as he wandered into the living room. “‘Mornin’,” he grunted. “Are you watching Doctor Who?”

    Allison turned, eyes alight. “He was here again.”

    “Oh. Was he,” Billy said, as if it were some inside joke between the two of them. “Story as usual?”

    Allison laughed and shrugged. “Sure. I’ll get you to meet him some day, for sure.”

    “Mmm.” He yawned again and rounded the couch to give her a hug. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

    She smiled. “Thanks. Oh, sit down so I can tell you about it!” she said excitedly. “So here we are, in the Pleistocene era…”

**Author's Note:**

> My mother isn't a fan of the traditional flowers and cards for Mother's Day, so I decided to use my writing skills to send her on a trip with the Doctor instead.
> 
> I actually bought a necklace with a square of Damascus steel and Gibeon iron, and left it on the dresser just as the Doctor said he would. (Thank you, Meteorites of Etsy!)


End file.
